1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vacuum vessel, and more particularly, to a vacuum vessel in which first and second substrates are sealed together using support frames and adhesive layers, and a method of manufacturing the vacuum vessel and an electron emission display using the vacuum vessel.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, electron emission devices are classified into those using hot cathodes as an electron emission source, and those using cold cathodes as the electron emission source. There are several types of cold cathode electron emission devices, including Field Emitter Array (FEA) devices, Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) devices, Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor (MIS) devices, and Surface Conduction Emitter (SCE) devices.
The electron emission device is used as an electron emission structure for an image display or a light emission source such as backlight. With the typical structure of an electron emission display using the electron emission device, first and second substrates face each other, and electron emission regions are formed on the first substrate together with driving electrodes for controlling the emission of electrons from the electron emission regions. Phosphor layers, and an anode electrode to place the phosphor layers in a high potential state are formed on a surface of the second substrate facing the first substrate.
The first and the second substrates are sealed together at their peripheries using a sealing member, and the inner space between the substrates is exhausted to form a vacuum vessel such that the emission and migration of electrons can occur smoothly. With a vacuum vessel, a frit bar is used as the sealing member. The frit bar is prepared by press-forming a mixture of a glass frit and an organic compound.
With the process of forming a vacuum vessel using the frit bar, the frit bar is placed at the periphery of one of the first and the second substrates, and the other substrate is aligned over the frit bar, followed by melting the surface of the frit bar through firing and attaching the two substrates together. The inner space between the two substrates is exhausted through an exhaust tube provided on one of the substrates, and the end of the exhaust tube is sealed in a vacuum tight manner. However, since out-gassing occurs from the frit bar under a high temperature atmosphere, the interior of the vacuum vessel is contaminated, and the degree of vacuum thereof is lowered.
In order to solve such a problem, it has been proposed that the amount of usage of the frit should be reduced by sealing the first and the second substrates together using a glass bar and an adhesive layer. The glass bar is formed with a length corresponding to the respective sides of the first and the second substrates, and provided at the respective sides of the two substrates.
However, since the electron emission display has been recently large-scaled, the glass bar is liable to be twisted so that the flatness of the glass bar and the vacuum vessel is deteriorated, and the glass bar is easily broken, deteriorating the work efficiency.